Understanding The Invisible Prison

Escaping that which does not exist.

The creation and maintenance of a self – the ideas in the mind and the things we believe in – is our prison. These ideas comfort us into thinking, “This is where I belong” … and that is precisely our problem.

Inmates rename captivity ‘freedom’,
believing that comfort is proof
they were never meant to leave.

This invisible prison describes a state of psychological entrapment, where individuals convince themselves that they’re free by finding comfort, stability or routine in their confinement. By accepting this comfort as their proper place, they relinquish liberty.

Renaming captivity ‘freedom’ is the best way to keep a prisoner from escaping by ensuring that they never know they’re in prison. The complacency of a predictable, safe, or comfortable existence makes the hardship of seeking real freedom seem unnecessary.

We fail to notice this fatalistic mindset, this internal prison where individuals convince themselves that their limitations are natural, deserved, or unchangeable. This concept has an effect on our physical wellbeing, and is also a social trap, maintaining the cycle of addiction.

Spiritual practice is awareness of the mind’s skewed activity.
Our escape route – the path to enlightenment – is the realisation that awareness is always present.